They claim the massacre was pre-planned to kill members of the minority communityl Sardarpura riot case
DNA Correspondent | Ahmedabad
DNA Correspondent | Ahmedabad
Witnesses
of Sardarpura massacre case have demanded sentencing of convicts in the
case under charges of conspiracy. Talking to media persons on Thursday,
the witnesses alleged that it was a pre-planned conspiracy to kill
people of the minority community in Sardarpura village in Mehsana
district.
Gulam Ali, one of the witnesses, claimed that on the eve of
February 27, 2002, while working near Jain temple, he had heard two
accused, Maganlal and Becharbhai, passing a remark that they would kill
Muslims.
Another witness, Bashirabibi Shaikh, claimed that when she had
gone to the shop of one Dahyabhai, he allegedly told her that she would
be killed. Other witnesses also claimed that the streets lights of
Sheikh Mohalla, where the massacre happened, were repaired and switched
on a day before the incident.
Teesta Setalvad of Citizens for Justice
and Peace (CJP), an NGO fighting for communal riots, said, "We have
moved a petition challenging the verdict of the Sardarpura riots in
which the lower court has not upheld the theory of conspiracy."
She
further said, "There are many witnesses who came on record and gave
statements and testimony in the court that established the fact that the
killing at Sheikh Mohalla was pre-planned. The SIT will establish the
theory of conspiracy in the appeal filed before the HC."
The petition
before the HC cited statements of many witnesses. Sabirmiya Akhumiya
Pathan, one of the witnesses, stated that Haresh Bhatt, a leader of
Vishwa Hindu Parishad, had come to the village and held a meeting at
Mahadev Temple (the place from where the crowd came on the night of the
event). "A meeting of Patel youth was held where Bhatt gave an
instigating lecture," Pathan said.
In November last year, the
designated court had awarded life imprisonment to 31 accused while
acquitting 42.